To devote oneself to vigilance when the enemy is an imaginary one is idle, and to congratulate oneself for looking long and well for a foe that is not coming is foolish and sinful. My life has been a waste.

When you know that something is dying inside you, you learn not to put much trust in the random vitalities of the fleeting moment.

I hate no one, sir. It seems a waste of emotional energy.

Thus does the unyielding, inescapable future ineluctably devour the present.

Utopias are boring. Distopias on the other hand, are interesting.

Who could not return from a visit to Jack Vance's world, without feeling that he had been somewhere unique, that he had experienced things unavailable in our mundane world?

My temperament is not inclined toward more self-promotion than is absolutely necessary for my professional well-being.